6of9Auburn coach Nell Fortner cheers on her team against Tennessee in the second half of their college basketball game on Sunday, Jan. 25, 2009 in Auburn, Ala. Auburn won 82-68.
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7of9Fever coach Nell Fortner talks things over with Indiana guard Bridget Pettis. Fortner thinks suiting up an exciting team and having a big-name player are the keys to drawing fans.
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9of9TAMPA, FL - NOVEMBER 22: Head coach Nell Fortner of the Auburn Tigers directs her team against the South Florida Bulls during the game at the Sun Dome on November 22, 2010 in Tampa, Florida. (Photo by J. Meric/Getty Images)Photo: J. Meric, Contributor / Getty Images

As a women’s college basketball analyst at ESPN, Nell Fortner is paid to get excited about her sport. And keep up with the latest trends.

“There’s a high school kid in Colorado dunking with ease right now. You can see her on YouTube,” Fortner said of the girl, Francesca Belibi, a 6-foot-1 rising junior at Regis Jesuit High in Aurora. “We’re seeing more dunking at a younger age today. It’s going to add some excitement to the women’s game.”

If anyone should know, it’s Fortner.

A former two-sport standout at New Braunfels High School and the University of Texas, Fortner enjoyed a lengthy and distinguished 28-year career as a basketball coach at Purdue and Auburn.

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Q&A with Nell Fortner

How would you rate the 2000 U.S. Olympic team that you coached with others?

I really think that if it’s not the best women’s Olympic team ever, it’s one of the best. I would have loved to see that team play the 2016 team. We had players like Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, Dawn Staley, Katie Smith, Yolanda Griffin and Ruthie Bolton. Most of them were in their primes.

A few years ago, you tried to establish your own version of ESPN’s ‘College GameDay’ for women’s basketball, traveling around to different cities in an RV. You called it ‘Nell on Wheels.’ Whatever happened to that concept?

I needed to have sponsors, but I really didn’t work hard enough to get them. I had some fun with it and then moved on. I have the ‘hook’ with the name, now I just have to figure out the rest of it.

A few months ago, ESPN laid off more than 100 employees, including some pretty high-profile people, as part of a restructuring. Were you ever worried about your job?

Everybody during that time was holding their breath. But I had received a phone call before the layoffs began saying that they were going to re-sign me. It worked out but I’ll tell you what, in this business you never know. I feel real fortunate to be able to do what I do.

One of your best friends in coaching was the late Tennessee coach, Pat Summitt. How close were you?

She always was a great supporter of mine. She came to the Olympics in 2000, just as a friend. She spoke to the team at our pregame meal before the final. Just being in her presence was awesome. She was always so genuine. She was an open book on sharing ideas. I can’t believe she’s not with us anymore. It’s incredibly sad.

What was it like playing for Jody Conradt (at Texas)?

She was always so classy and professional. You always wanted to please her and be like her. She had a tremendous influence over me.

John Whisler

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Her decorated resume also includes two stints with USA Basketball, as an assistant coach for the 1996 U.S. women’s Olympic team and head coach of the 2000 squad, both of which won gold medals.

Now 58, Fortner has seen the sport — and women’s athletics as a whole — evolve over the years as much as anyone.

At New Braunfels High, she once scored 72 points in a game. Fortner averaged 40 per contest for the Unicorns as a senior in the three-on-three system that was girls’ basketball in Texas at the time.

Women’s players today are bigger, faster and stronger, Fortner said.

“We see them doing more things,” she said. “They’re shooting threes from farther out on the floor. They’re faster, with better skills. And they’re dunking more. I think the women’s game is progressing in the right way.”

A native of Jackson, Mississippi, Fortner moved to New Braunfels in 1974 when she was in 10th grade.

Outgoing and athletic, she excelled in volleyball, leading the Unicorns to the state tournament as a senior even though she had never played the sport before arriving in Texas.

In addition to volleyball and basketball, Fortner was a high jumper in track and also a cheerleader.

“She was just as good in volleyball as she was in basketball,” recalls Karen Chisum, Fortner’s volleyball coach at New Braunfels High, now the head coach at Texas State. “She was about 6-foot-1, which back then was very, very tall. She was very dominating at the net, a superb athlete with a great personality. She was aggressive, a real go-getter. She got things done. She was Miss Everything.

“It’s been fun to watch her as she’s progressed in her career.”

College success

At UT, she played basketball and volleyball her first two years, earning a dual scholarship, before concentrating on basketball. She returned to volleyball her fifth year and helped the Longhorns to the 1981 AIAW national championship.

UT was 127-26 during her four years in basketball. She led Texas to its first national ranking in women’s basketball and finished her career with 1,466 points.

“I didn’t play five on five until I went to UT,” said Fortner, who grew up playing three on three against her two brothers and neighborhood friends in her driveway in Laurel, Mississippi. “It was quite a shock. The conditioning was much different.”

Her coach at UT, the legendary Jody Conradt, recalls a talented player who had to adapt to a more crowded court.

“Every high school player in Texas played three on three,” Conradt said. “She had to adjust to the new game, but everyone did. It was unusual to see someone of her height that had the skills she had. Sometimes, we had to have a talk about balancing school and social life. Whatever she did, she had fun doing it.

“She’s always been a fun person to be around and still is. She’s one of the most upbeat and optimistic people I know.”

With no WNBA back then, Fortner went into coaching.

She began her career in 1983-84 at Killeen High and turned to the college ranks in 1986-87 as a graduate assistant under Gary Blair at Stephen F. Austin.

She coached under Leon Barmore at Louisiana Tech for five seasons before landing her first head coaching job at Purdue in 1996-97 where she was Big Ten coach of the Year.

In 1997, she was named head coach of the 2000 U.S. Olympic team after only one year of head coaching experience.

It helped that she was an assistant to Tara VanDerveer for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta.

Still, Fortner acknowledges there were challenges.

“I was young and not real adept at handling that kind of pressure,” she said. “And so it was difficult for me. I managed it. When it was over, it was a joyous feeling and a big relief all at the same time.”

The highlight of the 2000 Sydney Games came in the championship finale against host Australia. The United States cruised to a 76-54 victory in front of 15,000 fans.

“It was a fantastic experience, it really was,” Fortner said, adding that the presence of the late Tennessee legendary coach Pat Summitt, who attended the Games to support Fortner, helped to calm her nerves.

Fortner spent three seasons in the WNBA as coach and general manager of the Indiana Fever from 2001-03, then coached eight seasons at Auburn, where she was SEC Coach of the Year for the 2008-09 regular season.

She was named to the University of Texas Women’s Athletics Wall of Honor in November 2001 and inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame later that same month.

She was inducted into the San Antonio Sports Hall of Fame in 2013.

Fortner is now in her second stint with ESPN, where she calls UT volleyball and women’s basketball home games for Longhorn Network. She also serves as a studio analyst for women’s college basketball on the SEC Network and ESPN.

“We go at it really hard for 7½ months and then I’m off. So I really like that,” said Fortner, whose Twitter handle is @NellOnWheels. “That enables me to do a lot of other things, whether it’s public speaking or traveling. I really enjoy it.

“But coaching is never out of my mind. If the right opportunity would come along, I would have to take a look at it.”

Whisler has been a reporter and copy editor at the Express-News since 1995. After a year on the sports copy desk, became a reporter covering the Iguanas hockey team. First started covering boxing in 1997. Has covered numerous world title fights over the years in Las Vegas, New York and Los Angeles. Other beats include the Rampage hockey team, Missions minor-league baseball and horse racing at Retama Park, as well as general assignment. Native of South Bend, Ind., graduated from Indiana University in 1977 with a degree in journalism. Moved to San Antonio in 1979.